Matt Araiza and the Draft

[Mr. WEO]

3 minutes ago, JaCrispy said:

Exactly...we don’t need a “punt god”...because even a mediocre punter would be light years better than Haak- who was dead last in every statistical category...👍

 

this isn't close to being true.

[CapeBreton]

10 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

this isn't close to being true.

isn’t it? I was under the impression that Haack was last in all punting categories. 

[SoMAn]

On 3/2/2022 at 7:20 PM, CSBill said:

If he truly is that impactful, I would go the 3rd.

Absolutely. If for no other reason than if we wait until pick 120 in round 4, he’ll be gone. 
Field position is often a huge part of who cones out on top in closely matched games.  As potent as the Bills’ offense is, there will be times when they’re 4th and 5 inside their own 30. 
And by the way, the guy is a decent place kicker too. Wouldn’t ever expect him to replace Bass, but could be an important emergency backup. 
Don’t discount the importance of special teams and field position. It can be the difference between  3 points or 7 points. How many games are decided by less than 7?

There aren’t too many ‘sure things’ after pick # 10.  If we can get a ‘sure thing’ in round 3, I’d be all in. Wouldn’t even be opposed to trading up in the round. 
 

[Mr. WEO]

1 minute ago, CapeBreton said:

isn’t it? I was under the impression that Haack was last in all punting categories. 

 

5 seconds to google...

 

https://www.footballdb.com/statistics/nfl/player-stats/punting?sort=puntin20

[Fan in Chicago]

4 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

5 seconds to google...

 

https://www.footballdb.com/statistics/nfl/player-stats/punting?sort=puntin20

Spending a lower round pick to lock up one position group for a long time, is worth it imo.

While the Bills don't and shouldn't intend to punt a lot or have to depend on a good punt, I worry about a killer mistake in a critical game. I don't have a warm fuzzy feeling when Haack punts. Good use of a 5th or lower

[buffalobillswin]

Anyone who think Matt Araiza in the 2nd or 3rd round is a good idea probably also thinks the raiders didn’t waste their 1st round pick when they drafted Janikowski

[Mr. WEO]

1 minute ago, Fan in Chicago said:

Spending a lower round pick to lock up one position group for a long time, is worth it imo.

While the Bills don't and shouldn't intend to punt a lot or have to depend on a good punt, I worry about a killer mistake in a critical game. I don't have a warm fuzzy feeling when Haack punts. Good use of a 5th or lower

 

A low draft rookie isn't less likely than Haack of making a "killer mistake".  His stats were as I listed them.  He did have a blocked punt, that's it. 

 

His "awfulness", like many things on this board, gets endlessly repeated until most figure it's true--and then they repeat it. He wasn't last year.  

[Dr. Who]

Just now, buffalobillswin said:

Anyone who think Matt Araiza in the 2nd or 3rd round is a good idea probably also thinks the raiders didn’t waste their 1st round pick when they drafted Janikowski

Ray Guy is the more relevant comparison . . . though maybe you're too young to know that fella. Araiza is worth a fifth round pick, imo.

[finn]

2 minutes ago, Fan in Chicago said:

Spending a lower round pick to lock up one position group for a long time, is worth it imo.

While the Bills don't and shouldn't intend to punt a lot or have to depend on a good punt, I worry about a killer mistake in a critical game. I don't have a warm fuzzy feeling when Haack punts. Good use of a 5th or lower

I can see the Bills packaging their 5th, sixth and seventh for a fourth and using that on this guy. Beane must be frustrated that two low-round picks were taken off their practice squad this year. A fourth for a punter sounds high, but this guy is special. If he can consistently buy the Bills D ten yards every time, that's arguably worth even a high fourth. 

[TheyCallMeAndy]

35 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

The difference between the the longest net punter and Haack last year is 6 yards.  Only 2 punters who played all 17 games punted fewer times than he did. 35% of his punts were inside the 20.  38% 0f his punts were either FC's or downed (zero yards retuned).  Only 21 punts were returned for  a season total of 96 yards.  

 

of all the teams in the NFL, this is the one that shouldn't spend a lot of time fussing over a punter. 

For sure, I think Bills just might value accuracy over power and maybe don’t want to put too much stress on a defense that, in truth, faced a ton of crappy QBs. That’s allI was saying.

[Mr. WEO]

1 minute ago, TheyCallMeAndy said:

For sure, I think Bills just might value accuracy over power and maybe don’t want to put too much stress on a defense that, in truth, faced a ton of crappy QBs. That’s allI was saying.

 

If a difference of a net 6 yards against better QBs is a problem for this Defense, then they will struggle to win 11 games.

 

That won't happen.  

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

On 3/27/2022 at 12:43 PM, JESSEFEFFER said:

The PSU punter, Stout, has much better stats involving fair catches, punts inside the 20 and touchbacks.  So, it appears he has more control of his kicks which is a big deal.

 

1 hour ago, Seoulofstone said:

Interesting Joe Marino retweets on Araiza versus other options:

 

 

 

It's also a little different to punting in San Diego compared to Penn St.  Stout may enjoy the Buffalo weather.  Plus we could come up with a much better nickname for a punter named Stout.

 

 

34 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

The difference between the the longest net punter and Haack last year is 6 yards.  Only 2 punters who played all 17 games punted fewer times than he did. 35% of his punts were inside the 20.  38% 0f his punts were either FC's or downed (zero yards retuned).  Only 21 punts were returned for  a season total of 96 yards.  

 

of all the teams in the NFL, this is the one that shouldn't spend a lot of time fussing over a punter. 

 

You can find many posts about what a mistake it was giving up Bojo for Haack, but when you compare the stats between them two, they were very close.  Ironically too there were only 3 punts resulting in TD's the block by Haack and one of Bojo's was returned for a TD.

 

I will say this I had also looked at the punting stats a few weeks back and was surprised how close Haack was to the best in the league.  But my eyes told me a different story watching him last season.  So the only explanation I can come up with is Haack was very inconsistent??

 

To me overall with this team holding is more important than a handful of yards at most difference on punts.

[Paul Costa]

Go get Stout @185. We can give him a cool nickname too!! 

[Mr. WEO]

9 minutes ago, finn said:

I can see the Bills packaging their 5th, sixth and seventh for a fourth and using that on this guy. Beane must be frustrated that two low-round picks were taken off their practice squad this year. A fourth for a punter sounds high, but this guy is special. If he can consistently buy the Bills D ten yards every time, that's arguably worth even a high fourth. 

 

That's not going to happen.  See above.

 

2 minutes ago, Ed_Formerly_of_Roch said:

 

 

It's also a little different to punting in San Diego compared to Penn St.  Stout may enjoy the Buffalo weather.  Plus we could come up with a much better nickname for a punter named Stout.

 

 

 

You can find many posts about what a mistake it was giving up Bojo for Haack, but when you compare the stats between them two, they were very close.  Ironically too there were only 3 punts resulting in TD's the block by Haack and one of Bojo's was returned for a TD.

 

I will say this I had also looked at the punting stats a few weeks back and was surprised how close Haack was to the best in the league.  But my eyes told me a different story watching him last season.  So the only explanation I can come up with is Haack was very inconsistent??

 

To me overall with this team holding is more important than a handful of yards at most difference on punts.

 

Bojo + Bass:  missed 3 of their first 9 FG.  After week 6, they went 22/25, getting Bass to a Bills record breaking season--as a rookie.

[LABILLBACKER]

7 minutes ago, Ed_Formerly_of_Roch said:

 

 

It's also a little different to punting in San Diego compared to Penn St.  Stout may enjoy the Buffalo weather.  Plus we could come up with a much better nickname for a punter named Stout.

 

 

 

You can find many posts about what a mistake it was giving up Bojo for Haack, but when you compare the stats between them two, they were very close.  Ironically too there were only 3 punts resulting in TD's the block by Haack and one of Bojo's was returned for a TD.

 

I will say this I had also looked at the punting stats a few weeks back and was surprised how close Haack was to the best in the league.  But my eyes told me a different story watching him last season.  So the only explanation I can come up with is Haack was very inconsistent??

 

To me overall with this team holding is more important than a handful of yards at most difference on punts.

Good Lord....just watch the Steeler and final Jets game. Haack is terrible. I could care less if he magically spins the ball perfectly for Bass. We lost home field advantage by 1 game. His net was dead last at 37.6, so excuse me if I'm willing to call it a day on Haack and spend a 5th or 6th pick on a better punter. Anyone can be trained to hold kicks. If I can give our defense an extra 5-7 yards of field position I will.

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

17 minutes ago, Fan in Chicago said:

Spending a lower round pick to lock up one position group for a long time, is worth it imo.

While the Bills don't and shouldn't intend to punt a lot or have to depend on a good punt, I worry about a killer mistake in a critical game. I don't have a warm fuzzy feeling when Haack punts. Good use of a 5th or lower

 

 

You mean like a bad hold, something we saw a lot of with Bojo.  And you want to put a rookie back there with limited experience with holding .  There were only 2 punts ran back for TD's all last season, Bojo alone had more missed field goals due to bad holds.  BTW, one of the TD's returned was against him too

 

 

11 minutes ago, finn said:

I can see the Bills packaging their 5th, sixth and seventh for a fourth and using that on this guy. Beane must be frustrated that two low-round picks were taken off their practice squad this year. A fourth for a punter sounds high, but this guy is special.

If he can consistently buy the Bills D ten yards every time, that's arguably worth even a high fourth. 

 

With a football field only 100 yards long correct that's not very likely.  The Bills have a pretty good offense, how many times did they go three and out?  Assume they start on their own 20/25 after a touch back and gain only one first down and another 5 yards and now have 4th and 5 on the 40.  A punt going 50 yards in the air would land at the 10, likely anything much longer will be left to roll into the end zone anyway.  I'd imagine a punters target would be around the 10 for that reason and for bad bounces. 

 

So the likelihood of gaining ten yards on a punt is not likely.  As stated above the net difference between the best and worst punters in the league was only 6 yards.

 

If his leg is a strong as advertised, with Araiza, good chance the team could lead the league in touch backs.  I'd also be a bit nervous with him if he would mentally try to just boom everything to impress?

[MrEpsYtown]

24 minutes ago, buffalobillswin said:

Anyone who think Matt Araiza in the 2nd or 3rd round is a good idea probably also thinks the raiders didn’t waste their 1st round pick when they drafted Janikowski

Well we picked Erik Flowers in that same round, in the same draft in which people passed on Tom Brady 198 times. But Janikowski was a better player than pretty much everyone picked after him in that round aside from Shaun Alexander, maybe Keith Bulluck. He was a generational talent. Was it crazy? Yeah. Was it the right move in hindsignt? Probably not. But he was probably the 5th or 6th best player taken in that first round. 

[MrEpsYtown]

24 minutes ago, TheyCallMeAndy said:

For sure, I think Bills just might value accuracy over power and maybe don’t want to put too much stress on a defense that, in truth, faced a ton of crappy QBs. That’s allI was saying.

I think they value points above all. And I think that is why Haack is still here. Field goals and extra points have to be close to automatic. With Bojo they weren’t and he almost single handedly ruined the career of Mason Crosby. 
 

But I agree, accuracy over power. Now if they can find accuracy, power, and holding, they are in business. 

[Mr. WEO]

2 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Good Lord....just watch the Steeler and final Jets game. Haack is terrible. I could care less if he magically spins the ball perfectly for Bass. We lost home field advantage by 1 game. His net was dead last at 37.6, so excuse me if I'm willing to call it a day on Haack and spend a 5th or 6th pick on a better punter. Anyone can be trained to hold kicks. If I can give our defense an extra 5-7 yards of field position I will.

 

No team loses home field in week 1, lol.  That's nuts.  The Bills gave up 20 unanswered points after a 1st half shutout of the Steelers. The Bills would score only 2 FG the rest of the game.

 

as posted above, the difference between Haack and the best in the league re: Net, is 7 yards.  A rookie is unlikely to be the best in the league next year (to close that gap). 

[Seoulofstone]

Regarding this topic in the context of the draft, I think it’s fair to say the Bills don’t need a generational punter especially at a high draft slot, but it’s not unreasonable to hope for a league average punter who is otherwise anonymous and inexpensive. Some of those Haack shanks towards the end of the regular season were egregious.